On November 7, 2025, Trump signed a proclamation granting “a full, complete, and unconditional pardon to all United States citizens” for conduct tied to “any slate or proposed slate of Presidential electors” in the 2020 election, and for “any conduct relating to their efforts to expose voting fraud and vulnerabilities” in that election. It names 77 people, among them Rudy Giuliani, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, John Eastman, Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, Jeffrey Clark, Boris Epshteyn and Republicans who signed alternate elector certificates in contested states. The list is illustrative: the grant “includes, but is not limited to” those named.
Pardon attorney Ed Martin made it public on his personal X account late on Sunday, November 9, linking it to an earlier post that read “No MAGA left behind.” It was published in the Federal Register as Proclamation 10989. One sentence sets its limit: “This pardon does not apply to the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump.”
The proclamation calls the prosecutions “a grave national injustice perpetrated upon the American people following the 2020 Presidential Election” and says the pardon “continues the process of national reconciliation.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “These great Americans were persecuted and put through hell by the Biden Administration for challenging an election, which is the cornerstone of democracy.” The AP pointed out that those pardoned “were not prosecuted by the Biden administration”: “They were charged only by state prosecutors who operate separately from the Justice Department.”
The legal effect is mostly symbolic, as the AP, NPR and Fox News all reported. A president can pardon only federal crimes, and “none of the people named in the proclamation were ever charged federally,” the AP wrote. Giuliani, Powell, Eastman and Clark were alleged co-conspirators in Jack Smith's federal election case against Trump but were never charged; that case was dropped after Trump won the 2024 election (see Trump's Election Win Ends Both Federal Prosecutions Against Him Before Any Trial). What the pardon can do is shield the people it covers from federal charges by a future administration, a benefit Walter Olson of the libertarian Cato Institute said may be limited because statutes of limitations have likely run on many charges. “What other purpose is served by pardoning someone who hasn't been charged with any federal crime?” Olson asked.
The state cases were untouched by the pardon, but most were already faltering. Many of those named had been charged in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin, and four, Powell among them, had pleaded guilty in Georgia. A Michigan judge dismissed the case against 15 Republicans in September 2025. On November 26, 2025, the Georgia case against Trump and his co-defendants was dismissed after the prosecutor who took it over, Pete Skandalakis, wrote, “The federal government is the appropriate venue for this prosecution, not the State of Georgia.” In June 2026 Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes dismissed her case while vowing to seek a new indictment, and in Wisconsin two defendants, Jim Troupis and Mike Roman, argued that one of their state counts should be dropped because of Trump's federal pardon. Cases in Nevada and Wisconsin remained open.
Rick Hasen, a UCLA law professor, said, “It is a complete abdication of the responsibility of the federal government to ensure we don't have future attempts to overturn elections,” and “Ultimately, the message it sends is 'We'll take care of you when the time comes.'” Sen. Adam Schiff wrote, “First, Trump pardoned the violent insurrectionists who beat cops. Now, he pardons the key instigators of January 6th.” Giuliani's spokesman said the former mayor “never sought a pardon but is deeply grateful for President Trump's decision.” The pardons followed Trump's January 2025 clemency for the Capitol riot defendants (Mass Pardons for January 6 Defendants).